Before booking our stay, I openly discussed with Ruth (the owner), my size, my weight, and the desire of my boyfriend and I to ride the horses each day. She assured me repeatedly that she had plenty of horses available for me to ride. When we arrived, we were told that I was 50# over the riding weight limit and I could not ride. In hindsight this seems like it was completely deliberate deception to get us to book and spend money. We told Ruth that we wanted to check out since our purpose for booking was mainly to go horseback riding daily. She refused to refund our stay but did offer a $70/per day, per person discount ($420 total), based on the fact that we couldn't ride (note: a 3 day stay was $1300 for the two of us!!!). Upon checkout on day three, only a $175 TOTAL refund was given. Ruth explained that the difference between the refund given and the one originally promised was that she didn't realize that we were seniors (over 55) when making the original refund quote. We found this explanation difficult if not impossible to believe.
The head wrangler, Danielle told us all the horses had a fungus on their feet. During game night, one of the wranglers told us the horses had not had a day off from riding in the 6 weeks she had been there.
Safety Concerns: The smoke detector in our cabin was disconnected. The wooden stairs leading up to our cabin were old, weatherworn, and wobbled when we walked up them.
The footpath leading from the cabins to the main house was poorly lit. Three of the eight lights along our path were out and/or broken. There are exposed tree roots along the path that are a serious trip hazard at night. There were no safety instructions or instructors to go with us when we went target shooting with the .22 cal. Rifle. They just hand out the .22 cal rifle and 20 gauge shot-gun to any guests regardless of experience? The trap shooting area was located in a pasture covered with horse manure. It was also flooded with smelly standing water, and over-run with large, black, aggressive flies and mosquitoes. The swimming pool water was green and very cloudy the entire stay. People swam in it. Guests are not issued keys to their rented cabin, and so therefore you are not to lock them. A 10 year old child was thrown from her horse and injured when the horse ran out of control down a hill (we questioned whether the horse's temperament was truly matched to the child's abilities); Nearby, the owners of another ranch told us they would not recommend Coffee Creek Ranch due to numerous injuries from horseback riding at the ranch and serious safety concerns. We were told that MedEvacs by helicopter were common.
Equipment: The generator that provided all the power was broken when we arrived. The back up didn't supply enough voltage so no motors could be operated. The main generator was not fixed until day 2 of our stay. The hot tub was inoperative when we arrived. The owner, Ruth, told us it was working. It was the end of day 2 of our 3 day stay before it was fixed. The mechanical device used for launching the clay pigeons at the trap shooting area was old, rusted, bent, and useless. The owner told us she had a manual "fling" launcher for the pigeons! The plastic pedal boat had one pedal that was broken off and the boat was filthy. Attempting to board this thing may have resulted in taking a bath in goopy, scummy, algae-filled pond water. No dock to board it, no Life jackets. The badminton racquets were old and falling apart. They were lying on the ground when we arrived, and remained there our entire stay. Ditto with the ping-pong table which was in disrepair; covered with dust and needles; and on unlevel, uneven ground.
The archery target was completely full of holes, torn up and falling in pieces on the ground. We spent 45 minutes trying to FIND the .22 cal rifle shooting range. Signage was non-existent and directions from wrangler staff were ambiguous. When we did find it we discovered the area was littered with cans, trash, shell casings, targets, etc. The fishing equipment was disappointing. Tackle boxes were completely empty; spin casting rigs had flies attached; and two poles were so tangled up that we needed to cut lines to get them apart.
It looked to us like the ranch, in its heyday, had been "the place to go", but now it seems neglected and has lost its glory. The owners seem burned out and perhaps have lost the spark needed to run an operation this big. Without attention to detail and the enthusiasm needed to make the ranch worth the price that customers are being asked to pay, we advise you to seek your dude ranch experience elsewhere. read more